Alpha Shield

Security - Killian

How Sanctuary maintained its reputation for security and Omega protection eluded him. Every interaction with Richard and some of the newer security guards left Killian wondering if someone was playing a joke on him.

A former CO liked to keep the men in his command on guard by running frequent incident drills telling no one on base that it wasn't actually a crisis. It worked for a brief time until the officers became complacent. The one time it actually was a crisis, the men hadn't responded quickly enough, and a civilian had paid the ultimate price. In the hearing afterward, both the officers and the enlisted repeated the same refrain; they'd thought it was another drill. The last Killian had heard of that CO, he'd been relegated to some cushy clerical posting where the only damage he could do involved not ordering enough scissors and staples.

The lack of situational awareness, let alone basic common sense, made Killian's chest burn. He kept waiting for Richard or someone else in charge to come along and pick out all the ways things weren't up to par, but after a few days of lurking around Sanctuary, he'd come to the horrifying realization that everything was running exactly to their standards.

Their standards were shit.

His original assessment that a determined Alpha could scale the walls to gain access was giving Sanctuary too much credit. An Alpha with a piece of dental floss and a stick of chewing gum could walk right in the front gate, make off with his Omega of choice, and disappear never to be seen again faster than Sanctuary's security could find a piece of fucking chocolate to provide comfort.

How had it gotten to this point?

Killian had obviously never needed Sanctuary's services, but anyone not living under a rock knew the reputation of The Kindred Soul Omega Sanctuary. The first version of Sanctuary opened more than a hundred years ago in the home of the high-ranking Campbell family whose only child and heir, an Omega son, had been brutalized and killed by his Alpha mate. The male, Jorey, had barely been of age when he'd been lured away by a gold-digging Alpha, mated, and murdered. The family's discovery that he'd successfully run away from his Alpha only to be returned to him by the local authorities mere days before his death had rocked the foundations of the upper crust. Omegas within their ranks lived a privileged and protected life, and the wealthy had always policed their own. An abusive Alpha quickly found himself on the outside looking in from a passive-aggressive shunning that the high society folks wielded like a weapon. They lived in a bubble, but the violent end of one of their precious Omegas lit up the plight of all Omegas like gasoline poured on a fire.

Sanctuary had been the family's first move. They created a home for abused Omegas from any background to escape abusive mates or families. The next move had taken several years, but with money funneled to the right places, laws were changed. The military at the time was divided into two entities: the Alpha Corps and the Omega Security Force.

Much had changed in the hundred years since Sanctuary's inception. The original manor had burned forty years ago when an Omega's father tried to force his daughter, who'd been hiding in Sanctuary from an arranged mating, to come out where he could spirit her away. Afterward, this new location was built and became the new haven for Omegas.

Everyone knew that once an Omega entered Sanctuary, the only way they left was of his/her own will, but things had changed. There were a few guards left over from the previous director's regime, and with some discrete questioning, he'd been able to piece together where the trouble started.

Director Haley Carminage took over as Sanctuary's two years prior. While it was surprising an unmated Omega had been chosen as the director, her background had been impeccable. Her family had roots solidly in the upper ranks of the old money society, and their name appeared amongst the families who supported the Campbells' plans for both Sanctuary and the Omega protection laws. Her education in psychology, a plus for understanding the needs of trauma and abuse victims, worked in her favor. Being an Omega gave her an insight into the instincts and thought processes of her would-be charges that no other director would ever have. On paper, it was a stunning and forward-thinking change for an institution that had only ever had Alphas as directors, but Killian's instincts screamed there was a catch.